I almost forgot two things.

1) "Carlton Banks" hosts a game show on GSN now. He's pudgy and really corny.

2) Elisabeth might be leaving The View. Although I think that she doesn't do a great job of explaining herself sometimes and she gets a little too defensive at times, I understand why she would be leaving, but I hate to see the one conservative on the panel leave.

Not much going on here. We've had a pretty uneventful few days. Yesterday I did make my first 100% solo outing with both boys. After I dropped Nina off at dance I only had about 45 minutes before I had to get Alexandra for her dance class so I drove down the road to a Big Lots. It's the only thing out that way and I had already been to Wal-Mart once that day. But I got both boys in the stroller and headed in. They were both so good I was able to just wander around the whole place for about 40 minutes. Of course I almost couldn't get Caden's car seat out of the stroller when we got back to the car, but I finally managed. I wouldn't want to have to be out by myself in bad weather or if one of them was in a foul mood, but I'm much more willing to go out with both of them now.

Caden is cooing in his pack-n-play and Corban is hanging out with Johnny and Luke. I'm headed off to make dinner - a really delicious roasted vegetable and pasta "ratatouille" that I got off of the Rachel Ray show. I'm 3 pounds heavier than I was when I got pregnant with Caden - if I can lose another 15 I'll be happy, if I can lose another 30 I'll be thrilled!

I haven't left the house since Thursday morning other than to go to church this morning and other than the fact I had to get ready, that hardly even counts. Someone had to make a quick trip to Wal-Mart yesterday but I had Johnny do it because I didn't want to shower yet - how pathetic is that? What's even worse is that we're trying to eat better, but were both craving something sweet yesterday so he comes back with: ice cream (not the good Under the Stars that we've been getting :( ), Reese cups, swiss cake rolls (per my craving), milk, and 2 1/2 dozen donuts. Granted, the donuts were for church this morning, but still. UGH - I know we need to be eating better, but if I don't have a little taste of something sweet during the day I go way off the deep end.

On a nicer note, Caden slept really really well last night! I fed him at about 7:30 and put him to be around 9. I didn't hear a peep out of him until almost 5 this morning! Of course, by the time i fed him and was getting back to sleep, Johnny's alarm was going off. Then when I was getting back to sleep from that, Corban started waking up. Oh well, I went to bed around 10 so I got almost 7 hours!

Last night Corban and I were looking at pictures from the zoo on the camera. He was really fascinated with the rhino, or "nino" as he called it. It was probably the animal he paid the least attention to at the zoo, but he loved looking at that picture. He's also having fun watching the hippos, elephants, and gorillas on Survivor. I alwasy try to pause and let him see when the animals come on. Well, I'm going to get some cross stitching done while my boys, ALL of them, are asleep!

We've had a long day already. This morning was my first MOPS meeting of the year. They met the 2nd Thursday of September, but I was in KY. So anyway, I hit the ground running this morning. Corban had a bad night, so we all slept in a little bit. I got showered before Corban even woke up. Johnny helped me get everybody ready and get the kids in the car and we were out the door before we knew it. MOPS was good, but very different now that I have an infant that I don't put in nursery. They said Corban was good, but I have a feeling he was a little bit of a bully. We came straight home and a member of the church had asked to visit this afternoon and bring some gifts over for the boys. She stayed from the time we got home until about 2:30. I'm exhausted and have a headache, and was starving by 2:30 but I'm so glad to be back with MOPS. Kim Fitzroy came with me this week, I'm hoping she keeps coming and maybe we can do lunch afterward sometimes. I would LOVE to start a Teen MOPS here at Turtle Creek, but we would need so much more support and volunteers than what we've got now. Maybe someday.

Corban has been saying some new words all of a sudden. Yesterday he was trying to say "vegetables" which was hilarious. Today I was getting ready to change his diaper and I said, "stinky, stinky" and he repeated me. He's also actually saying "milk," not jus signing it. It comes out more like "muck," but it gets his point across. "Juice" is still probably one of my favorite words that he says. Today Caden has been cooing - the first time he's really done much of that. He's been smiling at us, but honestly hadn't been content for long enough to do much cooing until just recently. Well, I believe that my big one is up. It's almost the weekend!

So far, today has been an exceptional day! Corban had a late night last night, so he slept in a little bit. We all got up and had monkey bread and Johnny put the new double stroller together then we headed out to the zoo. Caden was a little fussy at times, but it never took him much before he fell asleep. Corban LOVED the zoo. He had so much fun seeing all of the different animals and he got to walk around on his own quite a bit because it wasn't very crowded at all. The weather was just about perfect too. I can't tell you how many times I almost teared up at the stinking zoo because I was so happy just to see him enjoying himself so much and to think of what a little boy he's become. He made all of his animal sounds and was up close with a gorilla. I think that he enjoyed the elephants the most and I would probably say they're usually my favorites too. It's really cool this year because there were two baby elephants born earlier in the summer - they were SO cute.

Corban fell asleep as we were walking out of the zoo, so Johnny's upstairs trying to get him to lay down to finish his nap. Caden is still asleep in his car seat. I think I'm going to get some laundry done and make some Mexican Chili for dinner tonight. I think we might even treat ourselves with some "Under the Stars" icecream tonight too. Honestly, today has been the perfect day - I don't want to even think about it ending!

We had a pretty good weekend. Saturday started out slow, but then we went to Craig and Diana's for a cookout. They were having all of the kids from church over so there was a pretty big group. Everyone else was spending the night, but we just stayed until about 5. Corban hadn't had a nap, so of course he fell asleep in the car on the way home. He slept for a bit more and woke up in the best mood and still went down at his normal time. He's on an 8:30 bedtime now. Everyone slept great Saturday and Sunday was a good day too. We did church and Subway for lunch. Everyone relaxed and took naps, then we headed out to see Gail since we hadn't seen her after her surgery and then we went stroller shopping. We found one that I'm going to go get at Burlington Coat Factory this afternoon. We were THOSE parents though because Corban wasn't being cooperative and was screaming his head off while we were trying to look at the strollers and get him to test them out. Sometimes he just wears me out!

We've got a crazy day planned for today. Nina gets here at about 3, which is about the time Corban will be waking up from his nap. Nina and I will leave with Caden at 3:45 to drop her off at dance, Johnny's keeping Corban because the two of them are going with Luke and Nadine to Cabelas in Wheeling this afternoon. I'm going to run some errands then pick up Alexandra, take her to dance and pick up Nina and Nina and I are going to Monroeville to get the stroller. THEN it's back to pick up Alexandra at dance and drop the girls off at their house. We're in a rush now to get the stroller because we're taking the boys to the zoo tomorrow! Corban went when he was about 6 months old, so of course this is really the first time he'll have gone. We're hoping that he enjoys it and isn't going to be a bear because he's not going to get a nap. We'll see how it goes.

Nothing is really going on in the Shirey house right now, but Kenan is getting to come home tomorrow! He's off his meds and seems to be doing really well. Libby and I talked for about 45 minutes last night - she actually got to feed Kenan that evening.

Other than that, there are two random things that happened lately.

1 - I was walking out of Target and thinking about how I know so few people in the area, so it's very unlikely that anyone will ever call my name as I'm leaving a place like that. And that got me to thinking about my first day on campus as KCC. Sherry and Kerry hadn't gotten there yet since freshmen had to be there a day early, but as Mom and I were walking into Lusby, someone yelled my name across the foyer - it was Amy Tyson. Mom always thought that was so cool that as a freshman there was already someone who knew me.

2 - I saw a Ford Escort EXP today. Now, it wasn't red like The Rusty, but it did take me back in time a little bit. Man, I loved that car. I guess there's nothing like your first car - I wish I still had the old rattle trap and I've never named a car since :(

That's all for now. I've got to get the desk cleared off before Corban wakes up - there is a ton of mail still not gone through since my trip to KY. Have a good weekend everyone!

Well, Kenan is doing much better! He has been taken off all of the tubes and Libby and Cameron were able to hold him yesterday. He still has to stay in an incubator for periods of time to combat jaundice though. They said there is also a chance that they'll be able to have him moved to a closer hospital, which will make things easier. I'm not sure if Libby has seen Abby since Saturday, which I'm sure is hard on both of them.

In the Shirey house, we got through our crazy day of the week and I feel so much better! Yesterday I had my 6 week checkup in the morning, Nina had a half day, so I picked her up from school on my way home, did my running with her and finally dropped her off at 6, we picked Connie up at 6:30 and headed to our babysitter's and then small group. We finally got home around 9 pm. Apparently Corban broke down last night with the girls who were babysitting him for us. They said that he was tired and crying for his Daddy. He would get out the "Da" part, yawn, and then finish with the "Dy." I couldn't believe it then when he didn't fall asleep in the car, and I REALLY couldn't believe it when he woke up and fussed for the better part of the hour between 5 and 6 this morning. Caden went 7 hours last night, too bad it was from 7 til 2. I had tried to feed him at 10, but he wouldn't wake up enough to eat. Tomorrow is Corban's 18 month check up - the first one I'll have to take him to by myself because Johnny's staying home with the little one.

Today has been hard. Johnny has been around all day and both of the boys have been fussy and obstinate. Poor little Caden eats, screams for half an hour then falls asleep for about 20 minutes then screams for half an hour and so forth. I don't know what Corban's deal has been, but he's been a stinker. Sherry, he said "Bugga bugga bugga" this afternoon out of the blue - thought that was funny! I'm not looking forward to tomorrow either because I've got my doctor's appointment in the morning and I'm picking Nina up at school on my way home because they have a half day. We'll have both boys and I've got to get her taken care of, cook dinner, and take both boys to drop her off and pick her up at dance then come straight back here to pick Johnny up for our small group, dropping Corban off on the way. We'll see how this goes!

We did get good news about Kenan today. He is off of all of the breathing stuff! They're still feeding him through a tube, but I guess even that will be taken out soon if he can hold his own. He's got to stay at least a week in this hospital and then maybe more time back in Williamsport, but he looks to be out of the woods. We're not even going to try to go see him until he's home from the hospital and all of Cameron's family has left, but none of Johnny's family have seen Caden yet either, so we're looking forward to that trip.

That's all for today!

Today has been quite the day. Johnny left at 7 am to be at the hospital while Gail had her surgery. By 9:30 am I felt like I had lived a whole day! I got a lot done though, and both boys were really good. Corban actually used his sign to ask to eat today! He's known the sign forever, and he'll use it if we ask him if he wants to eat, but today he looked at me and signed "eat." It was right around lunch time and he ate a ton, so he knew what he wanted! I babysat a whole hour today. Mondays might not be worth my time, but it's too good of a job to be too picky. My boys are coming unglued - gotta go

Libby had her baby last night! He was 5 pounds and 7 ounces I think and somewhere around 19 or 20 inches long. His name is Kenan John (pronounced with a long e sound). As far as we know everyone is doing OK. We haven't really gotten to talk to anyone yet, we just got a voicemail giving us his stats.

Right now Johnny has Corban at Don and Bonnie's swimming and I'm trying to get everything put away from KY. Caden is crying in his bouncy - it's amazing what you're willing to let the second one suffer that you never would have with the first! He's actually been much more content lately and we're enjoying actually getting to know the little guy rather than all of the time praying that he'll go back to sleep!

Kim - I babysit a few days a week. The girls are 10 and 16 so I'm really more of a driver for them, I only work the days they go to dance classes. It's a pretty sweet job actually.

Hey guys, be praying for Libby and Cameron. She had to go to the hospital yesterday because her blood pressure was doing weird things. Anyway, they let her go home last night, but she had to go back today to have it checked and monitor the baby. When they checked it they kept her and Cameron has called and said that her kidneys aren't doing right either and that if things don't get straightened out they're going to take the baby tomorrow. Her normal doctor isn't here, so someone else is going to have to deliver and she's not crazy about that. The baby was going to be delivered October 1, so it's not too early, but still you never know. Anyway, be keeping the family in your prayers!

We're home! We had a great visit with Sherry, Kerry, and Carter last week. They took care of the boys so much for us, and even let me and Johnny have a date night - I think they were completely worn out after taking care of all 3 boys though! The three of them took me and my two boys back to KY and we got to see the whole family! We even stopped by Alicia's in Ohio on our way home yesterday so that we could see Annabelle for the first time - she's too cute! It was a long day yesterday by the time we had to stop by the outlet mall to pick up my cell phone that I had left there last Friday :) Then we went to Alicia's then we stopped at Cabela's and Cracker Barrel. It was after 9 when we got back and Corban went right to bed, but he woke up in the night and Caden didn't have the best night ever. Oh well, we're not making any plans for today. We've had great visits, but we're glad to be home and looking forward to getting into our routine. I start work Monday - hopefully all will work out with scheduling for that. Gotta go finish the cinnamon rolls - thanks S & K! :)

I'm having a great week!  Sherry, Kerry, and Carter got here Monday afternoon.  They brought lots of food so we aren't having to cook and I haven't changed but about two diapers since they got here!  Today we took the boys to the mall after naps and I think the plan for tomorrow is the park.  Corban tries to love on Carter, but Carter isn't too thrilled about that.  They seem to be having fun though, and Mama is enjoying the visit with the two best friends in the world!